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America had a common language, unlike the European nations, none of which was linguistically homogeneous. in 1789 the majority of Frenchmen did not speak French but were divided by a variety of provincial patois. Englishmen from Yorkshire were incomprehensible to those from Cornwall and vice versa. By contrast, Americans could understand one another from Maine to Georgia. It was very obvious why this should be so, said John Witherspoon, president of Princeton. Since Americans were much more unsettled, and move frequently from place to place, they are not as liable to local peculiarities, either in accent or phraseology.

— Gordon S. Wood

Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 (2009)

AUGUST 2ND

Today in the Revolution ...

1776

Formal signing of the Declaration of Independence by members of the Second Continental Congress.